"According to the existing power generation method, electric vehicles are almost meaningless." Japanese automotive technology expert and father of Mazda SKYATCTIV technology said Hitomi. At the beginning of 2016, he lashed out at electric cars, believing that it was unreasonable to change the way cars generate electricity. He believes that a coal-powered electric vehicle production chain may actually produce higher emissions than gasoline vehicles. If the actual fuel consumption of internal combustion engines (ICE) can be increased by about 25%, carbon dioxide emissions will reach similar to that of gasoline vehicles. level. Electric car.
With the continuous improvement of Tesla's global reputation, the rapid rise of electric vehicle manufacturing countries, and the elimination of traditional vehicles by many countries in the world, net-zero electric vehicles have become an indispensable part of the automotive market. And the whole society. Although Hitomi's point of view is to a certain extent regarded as an attempt to extend the life of traditional cars, whether electric cars are really 100% net zero is still a hot topic.
Although electric vehicles have achieved zero emissions during use, the electricity used for charging mainly comes from coal power, and the production of batteries requires a lot of energy. Therefore, the total carbon emissions of the entire life cycle of electric vehicles may actually be no less than that of fuel vehicles.
Take the lithium-ion battery (a key component of electric vehicles) as an example. Its production process includes homogenization, coating and drying, slitting, cell winding, battery assembly, and injection molding. Electric heating and sintering are involved in the production of ternary cathode materials. The mainstream five-series ternary materials require a sintering temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius. At this stage, ternary materials generally use two sintering processes, and the overall energy consumption is relatively high. On the one hand, lithium iron phosphate cathode materials also require a sintering process, but at the same time, the upstream processes from phosphate rock to phosphate, then to iron phosphate, and then to lithium iron phosphate also have considerable energy consumption requirements.
Among them, the energy consumed by the drying process of the electrode and the operation of the drying device in the battery production process is more significant. For example, if 400 batteries are produced per day, the operating power of the drying device and lithium-ion battery production equipment will reach approximately 64.8 kilowatts.
However, for now, traditional cars can only be powered by traditional fuels, while electric cars have a wider range of available energy sources. In the future, as the proportion of nuclear power, wind power, hydropower and other power generation resources increases, power resources will obviously become more environmentally friendly. If net zero emissions in the manufacturing process can be achieved, electric vehicles will no longer have questions and disputes.
In Ordos, Inner Mongolia, the "Vision Net Zero Industrial Park" with an investment of tens of billions and an output value of hundreds of billions is under construction. The industrial park will use 100% renewable energy in the production and operation of high-energy-consuming industries. It will not only support China in achieving its carbon peak and carbon neutral goals, but will also help initiate a new industrial revolution.
The vision of Envision Group to establish a net-zero industrial park in Ordos is to use abundant renewable energy resources to achieve 100% green power in the production of lithium batteries. Compared with other net-zero parks, the enterprises in the Yuanjing Net-Zero Industrial Park will continue to consume a large amount of energy, all from renewable energy.
In addition, the "Energy and Carbon Dual Control" platform of Vision Ark is used as the digital base of the industrial park, which can monitor in real time, give early warning in time, and fully optimize the important indicators of carbon emissions and energy consumption. Therefore, products in the park can also be marked as net zero.
Use Yuanjing.com Zero Industrial Park to achieve great transformation
The Ordos Plateau has proven coal reserves of 210.2 billion tons, accounting for about one-sixth of the national supply, and the proven natural gas reserves of nearly 5 trillion cubic meters, accounting for about one-third. In the past 20 years, the region has developed a large number of high-energy-consuming projects such as coal power, coal chemical industry, steel, electrolytic aluminum, and big data centers, which have driven rapid growth. In terms of carbon emissions. Inner Mongolia has an average annual carbon emissions of 700 million tons, of which Ordos accounts for one third.
After China's carbon peak and carbon neutral goals, resource-based cities are facing unprecedented uncertainty and pressure, and the future of their economic growth is directly hindered by energy consumption.
If energy-intensive industries can exchange coal for renewable resources, this drastic transformation will not only greatly ease the pressure on Ordos, open up new space for economic growth, but also help China's manufacturing industry to form a new transformation model. Industry and the world.
The world's major economies have begun to price carbon emissions, and carbon tariff barriers may now be the "Sword of Damocles" hanging over China's manufacturing industry. If the industry cannot achieve a net-zero transition in time, the entire country’s export industry will suffer huge losses and lose its competitiveness. Therefore, the development of a net-zero industry is the only feasible way for China to progress.
For the transformation of Ordos, its abundant renewable energy resources are the trump card. According to estimates, the total reserves of wind energy with development value in Ordos exceed 50 million kilowatts. If the urban desert land can be fully utilized to build grid-connected solar photovoltaic power stations, the installed photovoltaic capacity will reach more than 60 million kilowatts.
On October 12, at the "2021 Ordos Net Zero Industry Summit", Envision Group announced the launch of the "Envision Net Zero Industrial Park" in Ordos, and jointly released the "Net Zero Industrial Park International Standards" with Bureau Veritas. At the summit, the production of batteries Guangdong Kaijin New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which produces cathode materials, and Inner Mongolia Shengfan Technology New Energy Co., Ltd., which produces cathode materials, formally signed a contract to settle in the park.
Zhang Lei, CEO of Envision Group, stated that the energy of the Net Zero Industrial Park will come directly from wind power, photovoltaics and energy storage, 20% of which will be sold to the grid when power generation is surplus; the stored green energy will be recovered from the grid when needed to ensure 100% Net-zero energy supply, electricity security and low prices.
The Net Zero Industrial Park project covers wind power equipment manufacturing, battery production, hydrogen energy production and its upstream and downstream industrial chains, with an estimated annual output value of 100 billion yuan. At present, the planned total production capacity of the Ordos Vision Power Battery Manufacturing Base is 20GWh. Each year, more than 30,000 electric heavy trucks will be provided with high-safety, high-energy density, high-durability, and cost-effective power batteries, and batteries for comprehensive smart energy demonstration projects such as energy storage wind energy and solar hydrogen storage of more than 10GWh will be supported. These can solve the problem of renewable energy consumption and significantly reduce electricity costs. The manufacturing base will be built in three phases, with a capacity of 10GWh in the first phase. At present, the power battery manufacturing base has planned to achieve 100% supply of renewable energy such as green power and green steam.
Ordos is an important coal producing area, with more than 330,000 heavy diesel trucks in use and annual carbon emissions of more than 30 million tons. If trucks are replaced by electric trucks, Ordos will not only reduce carbon emissions, but the operating costs of heavy trucks will also be cut by more than half. If the electricity price is calculated at 0.26 yuan per kilowatt, it can save 30 billion yuan in operating costs. If the current domestic carbon market price is about 50 yuan per ton, the saved carbon cost is as high as 1.5 billion yuan.
In order to complete the replacement target of 50,000 heavy-duty trucks during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Ordos will build a supporting green power project with an estimated annual power generation capacity of 15 billion kilowatts.
Tian Qingjun, Senior Vice President of Envision Energy, said: “Envision Net Zero Industrial Park will not only transform the resource advantages of regions rich in renewable energy into industrial advantages, and solve the challenges of energy and carbon emission reduction in the region, but it will also drive the agglomeration of upstream and downstream emerging industries. To build a new industrial system."
It is easy to say that the whole park will achieve net zero, but there are still many practical difficulties to overcome.
Fragmentation and volatility are two significant shortcomings of renewable power generation-in short, it depends on the weather. Enterprises in the Net Zero Industrial Park are not only high-energy-consuming industries, but also high value-added industries. Once the equipment starts operating, any power outage may cause serious losses. Therefore, ensuring complete reliability is an arduous task for net-zero industrial park designers to overcome.
Regardless of the fluctuations in the generation of renewable energy, the power transmitted to the terminal over a long distance must be controllable. This is achieved through the smart grid. Based on high-speed two-way communication technology, advanced sensor measurement technology, control method and decision support system, the automation of controlled grid operation can be realized. In addition, smart grids can fully connect different links such as power generation, transmission, transformation, distribution, power consumption, energy storage, microgrids, and loads, and participate in grid dispatch and operation. Therefore, for example, whether you see the sun or wind turbines are turning, wind power can achieve a stable output equivalent to thermal power. Through the real-time dynamic balance of power generation and load power, the optimization of resource allocation can be realized, and the efficiency of the entire network can be maximized.
To provide a stable, low-cost, 100% green power system, it is not only necessary to accurately predict the output load of wind and solar energy, but also to see whether it can be flexibly adjusted. At present, the Yuanjing Net Zero Industrial Park has planned a large number of wind power and photovoltaic energy storage configurations.
Wang Wen, deputy general manager of State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd., pointed out that the current grid structure needs to transform from a continuous and reliable thermal power to a new energy with strong uncertainty and weak controllability-from the original pure consumption and rigid load to flexible Load and the combination of production and consumption. In the form of the grid, it needs to change from one-way stepwise transmission to AC and DC and energy is composed of adjustable loads. Grid operation changes from the mode of following load power generation and achieving real-time balance, in a coordinated interaction of power generation, load, and energy storage. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring the safety of the power grid and satisfying the social and economic development, it is very important to promote the consumption of clean energy.
Zhang Lei said that a new power system consisting of wind power, photovoltaics, energy storage, hydrogen energy, and AIoT will become a green, stable and reliable energy system. As the only technology company in the world that provides “source-network-load-storage-hydrogen” end-to-end net zero solutions, Yuanjing believes that the transition to renewable energy will bring huge opportunities, and the zero industrial park is to build a new zero-net industrial system Critical infrastructure.
Jiang Kejun, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of China Academy of Macroeconomics, and his team analyzed the concept of China's new net zero industry. The analysis believes that, considering that a wide range of carbon emission reduction requires a variety of technologies, many industries will turn to resource-rich and low-cost renewable energy regions, especially regions with advantageous photovoltaic power costs, in order to achieve a wide range of carbon emission reductions. Realize the serialization of local photovoltaic power generation, hydrogen production, and product manufacturing.
This heralds the emergence of net-zero industrial clusters in areas rich in renewable energy resources, such as the three regions in the southwest and northeast. On December 4, 2020, the People's Government of Eji Holo Banner of Ordos City and Yuanjing Group held a signing ceremony for a cooperation agreement. According to the plan, in the first half of 2022, the first phase of the Yuanjing power battery manufacturing base with a production capacity of 10GWh will be put into operation. In February this year, Yuanjing also signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Jilin Provincial Government. Here, Envision will help Jilin Province transform its rich green resource advantages into high-end energy advantages, and help Jilin build a new zero-net industry system through the implementation of technologies in the fields of wind power, energy storage, power batteries, and hydrogen energy. Energy and AIoT.
Jules Kotenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Research Institute, believes that Inner Mongolia has abundant renewable energy resources and low prices, and has unique regional advantages. Inner Mongolia does not need to send energy to the region where the industry is located, but to pull the industry to the region where clean energy is abundant and cheap. It is believed that this model has great potential to be replicated and extended to other regions rich in energy resources, and the industry will be transferred to the location of energy resources instead of energy to the location of the industry.
Taking Ordos as an example, Qian Zhimin, chairman of the State Power Investment Corporation, believes that the renewable energy of Ordos will drive the development of the industry in the region, and will play an important role in stimulating investment, stimulating growth, and increasing employment.
More upstream and downstream enterprises in the green energy industry chain will also settle in the "Vision Net Zero Industrial Park" in Ordos. Green hydrogen will play an important role in the interconnection of renewable energy in Ordos and the decarbonization of the industrial system. The net zero industrial park will develop a green power system. Hydrogen is used in downstream industries such as green hydrogen steelmaking, green hydrogen coal chemical industry, and biosynthesis. This will further reduce coal consumption in the Ordos chemical industry.
A large-scale lithium battery factory has been built on the construction site of Ejihuoluoqi Jingzero Industrial Park, surrounded by staff dormitories, management centers and sports fields. Here, not only the production of lithium batteries, but also the development of non-resource-based high-tech industries focusing on high-end equipment manufacturing, electronic information, new energy and new materials, optoelectronics, and biotechnology. Medicine, energy saving and environmental protection.
In the future net-zero industry, production will be powered by 100% green electricity. The heating system is powered by green electricity, steelmaking uses green hydrogen to replace blast furnace coke, automobile and ship fuel systems will be replaced by power and hydrogen fuel cells, and green electricity hydrogen biosynthesis technology will replace the traditional chemical industry using fossil raw materials to produce net zero Recycle materials.
Zhang Lei said, “The integration of green energy, transportation, and chemical industry will drive the vigorous development of the Ordos Net-Zero Industrial Park. China must not only provide a net-zero industrial park for the world, but also assume the responsibility of promoting the practice of the net-zero industrial park to other countries. . In order to achieve carbon neutrality on a global scale, we should incorporate our "best practices" into the standards and promote them. We and Bureau Veritas jointly formulated the international standards for net-zero industrial parks, hoping to become a worldwide standard ."
Author: Yu Dawei, Caixin Insight Researcher
Sponsored content: The views expressed in the post are those of the author.
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